One of the most decadent pleasures presented through HBO The White Lotus is the ability to laugh at the depressing rich. Creator and director Mike White portrays wealthy visitors to his fictional White Lotus complexes as cocky, foolish, and utterly blind to their own flaws. And in the season 2 episode “Italian Dream” of The White Lotus, we get to see a wealthy guest, Dominic Di Grasso of Michael Imperioli, absolutely ashamed of what he believes is an undeniable request. The scene in which Dom struggles to convince the hotel manager, Valentina. (Sabrina Impacciatore) to escort Lucia (Simona Tabasco) and her friend (Beatrice Grannò) from around the hotel is an excellent comedy.
We learned in the season 2 premiere of The White Lotus that Hollywood executive Dominic Di Grasso is in the niche with his wife and daughter due to his infidelity. Dom desires both sex and a distraction that he reserves for Lucia for one night before he even arrives in Sicily. She sees the paintings as a way to give her and her most productive friend, Mia, access to the sumptuous way of life that the White Lotus hotel offers its guests. What’s the matter? The hotel manager, Valentina, wants nothing to do with the girls. Not only does he expel them, but he also refuses to look away when Dominic asks him to.
“You know you move into a position like this and you get exactly what you need without asking questions, you know?What happens in White Lotus remains in White Lotus,” Michael Imperioli said of the scene. “But [Valentina] didn’t have it. “
In a deliciously awkward game of strength, Valentina forces Dominic to bring Lucia and Mia into her room and her father’s room as guests. However, the user who exerts the maximum force in the scene is Lucia.
“[Simona] is the leader of this [scene] and it had to be much more like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing. He’s very old, I don’t know what’s going on,” laughed Béatrice Grannò. .
Simona Tabasco said, “This scene was the first one we shot with Michael. So, it was fun to shoot. . . Because weArrayArray locates the key to those scenes.
The key to those scenes didn’t magically emerge from the script. According to Michael Imperioli, he, Tabasco, Grannò and Impacciatore spent time rehearsing it so they could catch a glimpse of improvisation on the same day.
“The 4 of us sat in a room, read it several times and worked on it. Because there are a lot of interruptions and interactions in this scene,” Imperioli said. “We all become smart friends too, as we live and work. “In this hotel and the rehearsals were part of that bonding experience. “
“Michael is just the best,” Grannò said. We enjoyed running with him. He is the ultimate actor and person. And we had a lot of fun. We must, you know, go crazy. “
“There was a time when we laughed a lot because we had to jump into the pool. And, for some reason, we jumped away with our dresses on. I don’t know why and he did the samepool on our clothes. It was like, ‘Is it because we’re like. . . what do we do?'”
You make the white lotus. That’s what it does.